


A Christmas Teaser

by snsoldier



Series: Last Bot Standing [3]
Category: Transformers: Prime, Transformers: Rescue Bots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-30
Updated: 2014-12-30
Packaged: 2018-03-04 07:04:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2956835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snsoldier/pseuds/snsoldier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Christmas themed teaser fic for the upcoming sequel to 'Switched'. Spoiler alert: just about everybody died. =)</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Christmas Teaser

**Author's Note:**

> Glaives is not _technically_ an OC. He is the only bot I let survive my mass assassinations, and for reasons that would be spoilers, is renamed, has his alt-mode changed, and is repainted. Because you know, I couldn't let him live and then NOT do lots of horrible things to him anyway.

Glaives sat with his knees drawn up to his chest. He was wedged comfortably between the malfunctioning stasis unit and the non-functioning synthesizer in Ratchet's medbay. They were two of the only structures that still stood upright. The stasis unit would hum on and off softly to itself from time to time, and the sound was soothing in the otherwise silent Ark..

With his chin propped up against his knees, his green optics dimmed as he stared unseeingly at the odds and ends he had been sorting through for the past few orns. Bolts of varying shapes and sizes, bits of frayed wiring of various alloys and diameters, scraps of paneling whose scorched paint could no longer be identified by color, heavier lengths of cable that had been strong enough to retain evidence of what their owners fates had been.

Jagged lines gouged in twisted metal, indentations that curved in a fluid half-circle, scorched flecks of char littering the floor, and the silence. Oppressive, heavy, crushing in on him from all sides.

The silence was better than what he imagined it had sounded like.

The critical alerts had been blinking on his visor for some time now, but he couldn't bring himself to power down into recharge. It always ended the same way. The high-pitched squeals of metal being ripped apart, the acrid smells of burning paint and energon, and the voices he hadn't really heard in vorns screaming, crying, and damning him.

_'I hope I NEVER see any of you ever again!'_

Why Primus chose those words, uttered in a moment of confused anguish, to listen to... Why Primus would grant a request that could only cause pain and agony... He would never find those answers. Not in this lifetime at least.

And so he sat, surrounded by the fate he had foolishly asked for, spending joor after joor, orn after orn, sorting through fractured remnants of past lives, struggling to find atonement for what he blamed himself for happening.  


* * *

  
Heavy footsteps pulled him out of recharge. He could not have dozed off for long, since his recharge bar was only just in the yellow. No longer critical, no longer flashing those constant alarms across his green visor, but still low enough that he would be scolded. Only one mech would know to look for him here.

"You didn't have to come Knock Out."

"I know."

The red mech didn't say anything as he pushed the medbay door open to enter, and then pushed it closed behind him. One of these days, he would repair the emergency generator just so he didn't have to manually open all those blasted doors every time he came looking for Glaives.

"Bluestreak is looking pretty good." He commented lightly as he carefully picked his way around the haphazard piles strewn across the floor. "I wasn't expecting you to get so far on his frame what with his paint job lacking detailing and all."

The smaller seeker said nothing, but idly flicked a heavy fleck of charred paint that had drifted to the floor beside him. The Decepticon medic said nothing as he crouched down beside him, his back leaning up against the front of the stasis unit.

"Screamer commed, He'll be back in just under an orn."

"I'll be back before then."

The liar. He would stay here until his own frame rusted out from under him if he had his way.

"Naturally, since you'll be going back with me and getting some proper recharge in a real medbay." He retorted lightly and grimaced at the shattered lighting, dangling cords, and just all around filth. "A medbay from 28 Days Later does not count."

"Just... let me have a few more joors..."

Knock Out said nothing. The silence between them was interrupted only by the intermittent hum of the stasis unit, the creaking and settling of the ancient hull, and the soft whoosh and click of their own vents.

"I know before... you would celebrate those human festivities..."

"Holidays."

"Yes those." Knock Out paused, as though contemplating whether or not he should go on.

"I know that it's Christmas now if that's what you're getting to."

"Yes. That one." His vocalizer clicked almost anxiously as he reached one hand into subspace. "I read it's custom to give gifts of particular significance on this day, so I was waiting for today to give you this."

The slate gray and umber seeker stared quietly at the small white box, obviously surprised by the gesture. Inwardly, Knock Out smirked. He hadn't been confident in his decision but the look on Glaives face all but screamed with a sparkfelt gratitude.

Gingerly the seeker took the box and smiled softly. "They're supposed to be covered in paper. Really bright, gaudy paper, with pictures of snowmen and trees and a fat man in a red suit. Then they tie them all up with these special skinny ribbons with really curly ends that get caught in all the plating seams of your digits when you try to untie it."

Knock Out smiled softly at the bot's wistfully nostalgic tone, before glibly trying to lighten the mood. "I could have done that, but I have a policy that my finish must always be the brightest color in the room, and Primus, let's be realistic. If I had tried to tie it up with ribbons you would be finding my offlined frame trapped in a service corridor somewhere weeks from now."

The seeker smiled and nodded in silent agreement.

They sat there like that for quite some time, the only sound the soft clicking and humming of the stasis unit as it would flicker on and off. When Glaives finally did tilt the lid back to reveal its contents, the silence remained unbroken.

Nestled on one of Knock Out's finest lint-free polishing cloths was a delicate contraption. Intricate monofilaments scintillated in the dim light. The wires were so fine, he had to recalibrate his optics to truly admire them.  
"Is this..." Glaives trailed off, overwhelmed.

"Yes."

The seeker shuffled forward until he was able to curl up against Knock Out's chest and let the older mech wrap an arm around him. His frame trembled with pent up emotion, and Knock Out sat beside him quietly, and offered soundless support until his friend stilled.

"Next time we make it out here, I'll show you how to install this new vocalizer in Bumblebee."

"Thank you."

"Merry Christmas, sparkling." He grinned slyly.

The seeker scowled at him before smiling back. "Merry Christmas, dinklespark."


End file.
